This research is based on the opinion that the temporal and spatial scales of climate change and those of the impact on the economic system should match. Based on this idea, we discuss how climate change influences the economic system through different temporal and spatial scales. Climate warming has a significant impact on the system in terms of factors operating at inter-decadal scales, such as the cryosphere, sea level rise, water resources, land cover/ecosystems, microbiology and human health, but has almost no effect on the system in terms of factors that have diurnal, seasonal and interannual cycles, such as the economy. The economic system is not directly influenced by climate change because of the mismatch in their temporal scales. However, the indirect impacts of climate change, such as the increasing frequency of extreme events and human adaptation, have a much greater influence on the economic system.